FOUR Port Dover pipers will play and lead a special program at the cenotaph in Powell Park in the early morning hours on Sunday, November 11.
Their 6:00 a.m. ceremony is timed to be exactly 100 years to the hour when the German military leaders’ unconditional declaration of surrender to the Allied forces came into effect to end World War One. That signing took place in a railway car at the forest of Compiègne near Paris, France and became official at the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month of 1918.
In Port Dover that moment took place in 1918 at 6:00 a.m. local time and brought an end to World War I which had raged on in Europe since 1914.
The four Port Dover pipers will be Pipe Major Ian McFadden, Murray McKnight, Ben Reid and Kevin McNeilly. The four pipers are playing their part in Battle Over, an international commemoration marking 100 years since the guns fell silent at the end of the war.
The 6:00 a.m. program begins with lone pipers playing Battle’s O’er, a traditional Scottish air played after a battle outside cathedrals in the country, following which a specially written tribute will be read out.
The Port Dover pipers say, “we are proud to be playing a part in this historic international event to commemorate the centenary of the end of the Great War, and to recognize the contribution and sacrifice made by the men and women from our own community.”
International organizers of Battle Over have been working on the November 11 program for four years.

Town bell will toll 100 times at 5 p.m. on Remembrance Day

THE large historic bell in the clock tower of Lighthouse Festival Theatre will toll 100 times on Remembrance Day marking the 100 years since the end of the fighting in the First World War.
The iconic clock’s timekeeper is Richard Dupp of Port Dover.
Mr. Dupp reported to The Maple Leaf that Hugh Allan Branch Royal Canadian Legion’s Special Events Coordinator Melissa Hagen asked him if he would ring the town bell for this special occasion.
As part of a global program, he will ring the bell at exactly 1700 hours (5:00 p.m.), striking the bell 100 times.
Mr. Dupp reported he is planning to strike the bell every three seconds.
What is involved for him is to manually lift the 40-pound hammer then release it so it will drop and strike the bell. The bell is housed inside the familiar tower below the clock. He will have an assistant there in the tower to carefully register the count at 100 strikes.
He described the procedure to ring the bell on this special occasion “easy as pie!”
Some years ago Mr. Dupp pre-set the clock’s bell mechanism to toll the hours three times a day in the morning, noon and 5 p.m. every day